Spade
by NeeXlasol
Summary: They were misfits, outcasts and outlaws with different goals and dreams. But the Spade tattoo on their hands showed that they would achieve them together, no matter what. A story about the Spade Pirates, Ace and multiple OC centric.
1. Rise and Shine

A/N: NeeXlasol does not own Ace nor does she owns One Piece, she owns the story and the characters Luca, Krahe, Reimi and Sei

* * *

"_Captain." _The voice called, tugging on the sleeping man.

"Captain.." another voice patiently called him again, in a slightly harsher tone.

"Mmm…"

"We've nearly reach the port, time to wake up" Another voice said, a feminine yet much more aggressive than the one before, but the sleeping captain did not reply, still too deep in his slumber to notice them.

"Oi!" another voice called, followed by a smack on the young captain's head.

"Gah!" the awoken captain yelped, falling from his chair and onto the ship's wooden floor, he groaned and slowly got back up, picking up his bright orange hat and putting it back on his head, his eyes glaring at the source of the voice that assaulted him.

"Don't give me that look, you wouldn't have woken up if we didn't do anything." His assaulter replied, a young man not much taller than he is, with messy silver hair, wearing a red shirt with a pair of dark pants, bo staff on his right hand.

"He's right about that, but was that really necessary, Sei?" a much softer voice replied, belonging to the tall blonde haired lad next to the injured captain, handing an ice pack to him.

"Yes it was, Luca." the older man replied. "Wouldn't you say so as well, Crow?" aiming his words to the girl standing in front of his captain, a small smile tugging at her lips, showing amusement in the current happenings at their ship.

"Please use my actual name when we're in the ship, I'm not particularly fond of the name those idiots gave me." The blonde girl responded, "But I would've thrown a bucket of water on him instead, with the bucket included of course." She added before letting out a soft chuckle.

"Krahe's right, that would've been more entertaining to watch, hitting him with your staff wouldn't be as funny as seeing the flame man soaked." The blonde boy added, completely going against his previous words.

"You shouldn't have said 'necessary' if you're just looking for better way to torture me, dammit!" The captain screamed after hearing his statement, he sometimes wondered why his crewmates are so goddamn sadistic.

The blonde lad just gave him a cheeky smile, completely ignoring the rage in the older man's voice. "Alright, I guess you guys had your fun with the narcoleptic idiot, better get ready to dock the ship!" The last person of the group finally spoke up, a tall pale woman with long black hair tied to a ponytail, wearing a black corset top with a cream-colored blazer over it and a pair of dark blue denim shorts.

The captain, clearly unamused with his crewmates antics, let out a soft sigh. "Yeah guys, we're gonna reach Lougetown soon, our last stop until we'll reach the Grand Line!" the young captain said, holding his left arm out and his hand forming a first, the others soon follow what he did, hitting the first of their captain with their left one, a small tattoo of a spade on each of their left hands, the small symbol that made them the Spade Pirates.

* * *

The crew was rather new, was only formed a month ago originally consisting of three members, the captain, 'Fire Fist' Portgas D. Ace and two 14 year old sworn siblings which are the cook, 'Crow' Krahe and the musician, Levier 'Pierrot' Luca. Eventually Krahe recruited 'Flashstep' Reimi as their shipwright and navigator after buying (read: stealing) a ship from her former clients. The most recent addition is Shikoku 'Vigilante' Sei, the first mate, joining after having the crew helping him deal with some people who were after him.

"Alright guys, first thing to do is that we need to restock, any volunteers?" the young captain ask but was left with silence as his only response. He left out a sigh again, then decided to throw lots instead, seeing as no one seems to like going on, as what Reimi calls it as, "Grocery Shopping".

The shipwright and the cook were the ones who 'won' the lot, with the musician suddenly volunteering to accompany the two females. "Okay, so we'll leave it to you guys with restocking, meaning me and Sei gets to go sightseeing hehe." The young captain cheerfully stated, though his expression changed to one of fear as he saw on how his cook was glaring at him.

"I don't really think we could go sightseeing, because considering what's on today's paper, marines and bounty hunters are gonna be after us as soon as we've docked, by us I mean you Ace" The first mate said.

"Wait, we're in the papers?!" shouted the flame man, clearly surprised at his first mate's statement.

* * *

"We're on the front page." the silver haired man stated, showing him the newspaper he was reading before his captain had his daily narcolepsy fits. The cover page were the crew's bounty photos, with Ace's photo as the largest one. Bellow it was the text 'SPADE PIRATES DESTROYED MARINE BASE' in large, bold and capital letters, the heading was rather misleading as the article itself was all about Ace and how he was the one who single-handedly destroyed the marine base with his Devil Fruit powers and the only mention of the others were that their captain has a crew and what are their names, and they couldn't even spell their names right, his name was written as 'Say', Luca's as 'Loka', Reimi as 'Rayne' and they just wrote down 'Crow' for Krahe.

The others, minus the captain as he was very happy that the crew got more notorious day by day, were very displeased by the article, at the bottom part of the front page were THEIR bounty posters with THEIR NAMES WRITTEN CORRECTLY, though it was justified for Krahe since her bounty poster doesn't have her name on it, just her epithet. Speaking of the cook, all eyes were at her because no one was quite sure of her reaction, she just looked…blank.

Then she started to burst out laughing…

"I can't believe they got your names wrong!" she finally said, "I mean it's already shitty because, if you ask anyone in that base, they'll say it was me and Luca who blew up that base, because that's what happened!"

Then Luca joined her in her laughing fit, "No one got killed as well! And what's with them saying we, I mean _Ace_ did it to terrorize the people of the island there?"

"The marines there were harassing the people there, they actually _paid us_ to blow up their fucking base!" the shipwright added, at least she said something reasonable… "And how the hell do you miswrote Reimi as Rayne, it doesn't sound similar at all!" or not.

"Well Sei, already have plans on what should we go see first? Lougetown it a big tourist spot you know." His captain gleefully said, seem to have not understood nor care of what the first mate meant.

The silver-haired man then pinched the bridge of his nose; they had warned him that this crew isn't the sanest of crews before he joined.

* * *

A/N: So this is my first fanfic to ever be publish, sorry if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes and feel free to point them out if you want too! :) It's about Ace and his crew since we've never got any details of who were the members or any background on it before they merge with the Whitebeard pirates, all of this is based off of my headcannon and I know that Ace doesn't have a spade tattoo on his hand but let's just say he has one to symbolize the bond between the crew, I'll try to update as soon as possible so please R&R! criticism is welcomed as long as it's constructive!


	2. Of Dreams, Sightseeing and Scams

A/N: 2nd Chapter! I don't think I'll be able to update in May because I'm having my IGCSE exams now until like the end of it so sorry and enjoy chapter two~ (and NeeXlasol doesn't own One Piece, just the OC and story)

* * *

Needless to say, after docking their ship at the port of Lougetown, things went exactly the opposite of what the first mate predicted. The rather small pirate crew were not noticed at all by the people there, despite taking the cover of today's paper and having at least a 30% increase in all of their bounties. They may be a small crew but they probably had the highest total crew bounty in East Blue, beating Arlong's and that big red nosed clown crews! Yet the people here were not panicked nor try to contact the marines, the only person who even approached them was some guy telling them that they have to pay a docking fee every day they stayed here, didn't the man know that he was charging pirates that could raid the town or at least beat him up for charging them, I mean they're pirates!

The shipwright then told the man of the duration of their stay there and then gave him the belli needed to dock their ship. The man then thanked her and gave her a piece of paper with the date of their arrival on it, apparently they had to return it as soon as they return to the ship to sail to again and they would be charged again if they exceed the duration of their stay. The shipwright merely nods at the man and he made his leave.

Okay, they may be pirates, but they don't go terrorize islands on a whim, though they do steal if they're low on cash (it's still pretty rare for them to steal since Luca likes to rip off any spoils they found on sea at ridiculously high prices, the merchants he sold them too never doubted him though, those poor men) and of course they all follow the captain's art of 'dine and dash', something the first mate is still adjusting too. But they don't do things normal pirates would do, mainly because they're too focused on achieving their own dreams.

* * *

Luca dreams to surpass his eldest brother, a high ranking member of the Red Haired Pirates, the same crew Krahe's eldest sister is in. A rather vague goal, when Ace tried asking him in what would he want to surpass his brother in, the blonde lad just said in every way possible. Krahe mentioned that her best friend had always had a complex relationship with his brother, sitting on the fence between admiration and envy.

The cook aims to have her name to be remembered by every person in the world, though ironically she's only known by her epithet and only Luca knows her full name (she told the others she would tell them when they leave Lougetown), though she does plan on exposing her name as soon as she deems herself 'strong enough' saying that if her real name is exposed, none of them would be safe unless she's strong enough to 'prove herself'. She was never very good with words.

The shipwright dreams to reach Raftel, though when asked why she would just say that she'll tell them as soon as they've entered the Grand Line. She told them that she was born and raised in the Grand Line and so happens to be at East Blue due to her last client's demand when she was still a mercenary, when Krahe mentioned that they were aiming to find the One Piece, she betrayed her client and stole the ship they've used to get to East Blue, saying that she's only joining them to get to Raftel.

The first mate wants to eliminate the system of slavery and nobility, a dream many would expect a revolutionary to have, not of a pirate. The young man never wanted to be a pirate at first and he considered the revolutionaries as 'too idealistic and harsh', he was a noble turned outlaw who was wanted by the marines because of his family's demand (and by slavers for destroying the only auction house in East Blue, freeing all of the slaves, human and non-human.) before meeting the crew, befriending them and eventually joining them after they've helped him take care of the marines and slavers that were after him. He decided that his dream would be achieved as they become more famous, so for now he'll put it on hold.

The captain's dream is somewhat confusing to the crew. He doesn't want to become pirate king, merely mentioning Gold Roger to him would instantly turn his mood sour, though nothing more than a large platter of food would instantly cure. But he wants be the greatest pirate in the sea and aiming to get the One Piece to prove it, even though it's obvious that the world will see the future pirate king as the one who will find the One Piece. The crew decided that their captain's dream shouldn't be discussed further until they could understand why he seem to bear so much hatred to the late pirate king, their food supplies will suffer if they push the topic further.

* * *

The crew soon split into two groups, with Reimi, Krahe and Luca getting their supplies and Ace and Sei going on their sightseeing trip. The captain insisted that they won't be causing any trouble nor will anyone notice them. The silver haired man was still rather skeptical of the brunette's words, as from his experience as an outlaw, he would always have people after him.

But after becoming a pirate, no one had seemed to have tried to capture him and send him back home for some quick cash. He suspects it's because of his bounty increasing, he has a bounty of 10,000,000 belli, one of the highest bounties in this peaceful side of the sea, so of course people would be scared of him!

"Oi, first mate, let's get going! I want to go to the tourist spots." The flame man called, that distinctive bright orange cowboy hat of his is shining brightly because of the sun. He was holding a camera with him and was telling his first mate of how he wants to take picture of the tourist spots.

"The captain can be quite the kid." The silver haired man muttered.

"Seeiii~ let's gooo~." The enthusiastic captain tugged on his first mate's arm. Photography is something the flame man enjoys; he told the crew he got interested in it because of an old man that he met at the first island he traveled to after becoming a pirate, the old man was a former pirate himself. What sparked the 18 year old's passion is because of the old man's photo album which contained photos and memories of the island the old man has been too before he retired from piracy. He was given his camera by the retired man, telling him to photograph the places he would be at, though the young captain refused at first, because the camera was the one the elderly man used back when he was still sailing, he eventually accepted it after being told that he'll regret of not being able to look back at the memories he'll have once he'll turn old.

* * *

The duo then went on their little trip. The first place of interest they went was the Execution Platform, the place where the late Pirate King was, well executed, either he was beheaded or impaled; the first mate did not know nor cared. The captain though was curious about it, asking the people who were also sightseeing while taking picture of the location and the platform itself. His face was met with disappointment when he was told he could not climb the platform.

They then went to the Arms Shop that is run by Ippon-Matsu. The first mate was looking for new equipment, as his current bo staff had been quite worn out and looked as if it would snap if he were to use it in battle again. His staff was not made for long term use anyways, just a simple staff made from rattan and would be normally used for training, to him it's a miracle his staff had lasted this long. He took interest in the staff on display, it was made from white oak and had been banded with strips of iron at its ends, it was quite light, not as light as his current staff but it was lighter than he had expected. Judging from its shape, it was a custom one as the center of the staff is thicker than the rest, meaning this staff had belonged to someone else before it was displayed in this shop. The owner seemed to have noticed him examining the staff and told him that the staff had belonged to the bojutsu master, Katakura, who is from Wano.

After hearing that, Sei decided to put the staff back, when asked why he told the owner that he doesn't see himself as skilled enough to wield a staff that had belonged to a master (and he had assumed that it would be very expensive). The owner then told him he could have the staff, telling him that he was impressed of how humble the silver haired man is. Though he insisted that he couldn't take it, the owner will not take no for an answer, Sei then thanked the old man and told him he was very grateful of his gift.

The captain was preoccupied with enthusiastically taking pictures of the weapons on display as soon as the owner had given him permission, said owner seem to not have been intimidated or maybe he did not realize, that a pirate with a bounty over 10,000,000 had talked to him. The first mate had given up on expecting to be chased down by marines now. Ace had taken interest on a short saber, it had a very simple design and was made from steel, very standard quality and is actually mass produced. The young captain decided to buy it since he doesn't really have any weapons as he fights using his flame power. When asked why he told him that he'll need it if he couldn't use his powers, _the captain can be smart at times… _his first mate thought. He then asked for it to be engraved with the word Spade and with a small spade as well. Before the two men leave the store, the captain asked the owner to take a picture of them as the show off their new weapons.

* * *

Luca, Reimi and Krahe were at The Fisherman King Uotome, the local fist market of the town. They've decided on starting with getting the perishable supplies first, putting them back on the ship and then get the non perishable ones. The reason why is so that they won't need to carry raw fish all day long. Krahe was chatting with the owner as she examine the freshly caught fish who was enjoying his conversation with the young cook, though the fact that she covers her face with a mask seems to bother him. Luca and Reimi, on the other hand, does not seem to enjoy the market due to the stench of fish that reeks through the place had made their stomachs uncomfortable and silently wishing for their younger friend to quickly finish.

The cook had finished buying the fish she needed to prepare for dinner; she would make grilled sea king meat, which would please the captain, though she was a little disappointed that there was no Blue Fin Tuna, as she had heard that the owner of the marker usually have them in stock. Maybe they're not in season, she thought. They went to the produce market to get the spices needed for their meal and two gallons of milk for their first mate, who, unlike their musician, loves the stuff. The last store they would go to before returning to their ship was the general store, where the cook went to get all the things she need for dessert.

They had walked back to their ship, putting all of the things they had bought in the galley. The cook had marinated the sea king meat before they left again. The next thing they need to do is to resupply on belli; their musician's specialty. The two female members went inside the ship's treasure room, which was located in the forecastle and is actually filled with worthless junk they happen to find. They keep their treasure in their living quarters, hidden under a hatch near their captain's cabin. Luca was already there, putting in his goods in a worn out bag.

"It's time for Rip off Luca's show." The shipwright said.

"You should be called Arlecchino instead you know, as that clearly suits you more than Pierrot." The cook added.

The musician chuckled at the cook, before dramatically saying, "Then does the lovely Krahe would become my Columbina? Who I will protect from the Pantalone and steal away from her Pierrot!"

"But I cannot! As I must find the innamourato so that Reimi, innamourata will not drown her sorrows with dozens of bottles of rum as she has her heart broken in her search!" the cook dramatically replied back.

"Oi, you stupid blonde, don't drag me in your stupid theater talk!" the raven hair girl shouted to the cook, "And what do you mean I get myself drunk every time I get dumped, I always do the dumping you know!"

"Oh, I guess I should rephrase it to how 'she makes other men drown themselves in their sorrows with liquor' then." The blonde girl replied as she put her mask on her face, covering the top half of her face, more importantly her golden eyes.

* * *

The trio had finished preparing for the musician's con and had left their ship, heading to the merchant ships. The miss-titled blonde was looking for potential customers, usually the naïve looking ones or the-know-it all looking ones would do, since they would be too busy with his dramatic acting to actually notice his goods. The other two were merely watching him from afar, not wanting to be noticed by the merchants themselves as that may ruin the lad's con.

He found his target, a young merchant that's probably around their captain's age, chatting with his friends, all full of joy and enthusiasm, the most easily tricked one. He prepared himself, already in ragged clothes and took a deep breath, preparing himself with the face of a sad puppy as he approached him victim. "Excuse me….umm…sir, would you be interested in treasure?"

The merchant looked at the blonde who approach him; his expression is filled with surprise and pity as he saw the blonde boy in tattered clothes, "Treasure? Where did you find it?" he asked as he saw what the boy was carrying, gold bangles and necklaces covered in jewels, it's clear that the boy isn't from here.

"I was taken away by pirates, they shot my mama….they said they're gonna take me to South Blue, saying that I'll…that I'll sell well there." He stuttered, holding back the tears in his eyes. "But then a sea king attacked, the ship I was on broke down, we got washed away to the shore in the opposite side of the island…..they were all dead, but there was this box filled with treasure left. They said that it was the Moon Princess' treasure."

The merchant's eyes were filled in shock; the Moon Princess' treasure is worth billions! "Really?! I mean, yes, I'm interested in your treasure, although it's actually not worth that much…" the man lied, the greed in him was showing, making it easier to con him.

"It is?!" the blonde had already turned on the waterworks, "I thought…I thought it would sell, I wanna go home! Now I can't because the treasure is worthless!" he cried, slamming him hand to the ground, taking his bag of treasure and was planning to throw it into the sea.

"Wait! It's actually worth 5 million beli, it's just doesn't have as much worth as other treasure! I'll buy it off of you, but you can't say how much you sold it to me…" the man suddenly shouted at the lad.

"You will!?" the boy said, a flicker of hope appearing in his eyes.

"Yes! And here's the money! So I'll be taking the from you now." The man then handed him a suitcase filled with beli, showing the contents to him before handing it to him, the boy took the suitcase and gave him his bag.

"Thank you so much kind sir!" the blonde lad said as he bowed to the man and ran off to town. "Sucker." He added quietly as he went to meet up with the others.

* * *

"How did it go?" the older woman asked as they met up at a back alley not too far from where the merchant ships are.

"Scammed five fucking million out of the poor guy, did the poor former hostage and Moon princess treasure act!" Luca gleefully stated as he wiped the face paint off of him and changed his shirt.

"Classic, the Moon Princess treasure is something merchants are always after; too bad no one knows what it looks like so the naïve ones always got scammed because of it." Krahe said, counting the money in the suitcase, "And he gave you full five million for some stuff I found at the juckyard in the last island and then painted gold and welded colored glass onto."

"Well, since this is actually more than enough, I guess you two deserve to treat yourselves." The shipwright stated, "Me and Krahe here already got other stuff we needed when you were off on stage."

"So we're free now? Let's go to Robecca Hanberg! Me and Krahe needs to go on a shopping spree!" Luca said, eyes full of excitement as the idea of shopping has reached his head.

"We still need to take the cash and stuff to the ship you know." The cook told him, causing the other blonde to pout, though it had no effect on her, growing up with the dramatic man had caused her that.

"I'll go do it, you guys just enjoy shopping now, just make sure to get back before sundown since you have to make dinner by then." The shipwright said as she picked up the suitcase, causing Luca to instantly cheer up and Krahe's own eyes to flicker in joy, good thing the mask was covering it.

"Thank you!" they both said in unison.

The raven haired woman softly laughed, those two were still just a pair of 14 year olds despite trying to be mature most of the time. "Keep out of trouble okay!" she said as she started to head back.

"You should've said that to Ace instead!" the masked girl shouted back.

* * *

It was a short trip back to the ship, only took the shipwright ten minutes. She had put the money in the real treasury, written down how much they've gain and spent that day in her little black book. Yes, she's also the ship's bookkeeper; oh how she wished there would be more members. She changed her clothes since the ones she were wearing were not suited for where she's heading and head back to the bar.

"Vodka, three shots of it." The raven haired woman ordered as she took a seat at the edge of the bar, the bartender looked at her oddly, before getting her drink. The only reason she even did the favor is to make sure those two were not with her here. It's not really because they're underage, she started to drink at their age at well, Luca doesn't drink though but Krahe loves booze and can never seem to get drunk from it, gotta be in her genes. It's because she's going to look for information and her methods should not really be seen by those two teens.

"Here you go, three shots for the lovely lady." The bartender handed her drinks, which she drank one by one the instant they were given, flashing a smirk to the man before asking for another shot.

"I guess bars are still the best place to find you, Flashstep." A voice said, it was familiar, she would know that voice anywhere.

"Well it's the best way to drink and find company." She replied, not bothering to look at the man behind her as she took another shot.

"Tch." The man took the seat beside her, which caused her to finally look at the man, the same stupid green hair and sharp teeth that made him stood out from most people. "Mind telling me why you're a pirate now?"

She chuckled, look at her former client's rival and a good friend of her as well, "Well it's gonna take awhile since it's a long story~" she sang as she told him. "Bartolomeo."

* * *

A/N: Arlecchino, Columbina, Pierrot, Pantalone, Innamourato and Innamourata are all stock characters found in _Commedia dell'arte,_ which is a form of theater originating from Italy in the 16th century.

The Arlecchino is the always hungry and with no money, but has all the wit and creativity to get along.

The Columbina is somewhat his female counterpart and is his love interest but is usually the wife of the Pierrot or is also pursued by the Pantalone.

The Pierrot is the butt of all pranks and the opposite of the Arlecchino.

The Pantalone is the venetian merchant, rich, greedy and naïve.

The Innamourato and Innamourata make up the Gli Innamorati (meaning the lovers) these characters are there for the sole purpose of being in love with one another, and moreover with themselves.

Please R&R and criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive!


	3. Drinks and Dye

A/N: Chapter 3 is here! A little note here is that Bartolomeo is probably really OOC here since I don't know how he acts around people he's close and familiar with since I've only seen him being around people he idolizes (e.g. Luffy and co.) or people he's not close too.

I'm still having my exams but I manage to write this down, I'll probably be updating late again until they're finished.

NeeXlasol does not own One Piece but owns the OCs.

* * *

She's not surprised to find him here. Loguetown isn't very far from his headquarters. When she worked for him, he would send her here to either contact his clients or partners or kill people who pissed him off. She did more of the latter because he gets pissed off easily.

"Heh, I have time." The green haired man replied. "And you should too, since you won't need to worry about marines or bounty hunters, your crew too." He added.

"I don't? How sweet of you Barto, never thought you cared 'bout me that much." Reimi replied._ Well that explained why no one was out to get us_.

"Tch, this is just to get us even, I owed you for fucking up David's business, even though you said you don't screw over your bosses." The man responded.

"He was a prick and I'm a mercenary, someone just offered me a better deal so I just, how you say it, ended my contract with him earlier." David was her last client, a total douche who couldn't take a hint, if it wasn't for the ship, she wouldn't worked for him in the first place. Too bad she screwed him over as soon as Krahe said Raftel.

"That 'someone' is your new captain?"

"Crow." The woman stated.

"Now _that_ explains everything, she threatened you or something?"

"Care to explain why she would threaten me? She just gave me a better deal and of course, solid guarantee." She asked.

"Heard that she used to work for the big guns of the underworld, said she used to be a major asset for his arms dealing business. Expected her to point a gun at your head or something." The man responded.

"You've clearly haven't met her then."

"Don't really want to either, you know why." Bartolomeo sneered. "Back to the topic, what she offered? Think I can double it."

"Not money." The woman stated, "Raftel."

"Well _damn_, guess that means the captain's…"

"Yup, if it was some random pirate I would've cracked his spine." She explained. Barto had been one of her better clients, she worked with him for three years, six times longer that her usual contracts. They had been close as well on a personal level, but it didn't work out yet still he's one of the few people she trusts.

"Good luck then, you'll be going back home soon, think your old man misses you?" the man asked, not bothering to with his original purpose after hearing her answer.

"Sabaody's still a long way to go you know, wait you don't." She joked.

"Bitch, I meant the Grand Line, Sabaody's in it so I'm kind of right."

"Sure you are Barto, it was nice seeing you." Reimi said, giving some bills to the bartender and getting off her seat.

"Leaving? That's too soon for you."

"Wanna go look around the place since we're sailing at dawn tomorrow, gonna miss this place."

"Mind if I join you then? For old times' sake." The man asked.

"Who are you and what have you done to Meo?" she giggled. "Sure, for old times' sake."

Usually she wouldn't hang out with her exes, but Barto would be an exception. Considering that half of her exes are out to kill her or dead.

* * *

Luca was disappointed. Not only were the clothes were overpriced, most of them were crappy or trashy looking. There was also no men's clothing as well. He never liked the fashion in East Blue, most people would wear plain looking clothes and he had also notice that the style had not changed for at least 20 years. 20. Fucking. Years. _Maybe it's because it's the most peaceful out of the four blues_, he thought.

Krahe thought the same as well, the clothes were either too skimpy or baggy look on her, either it doesn't fit her chest or it doesn't fit her waist. Damn fashion designers and their ideal body designs. "Let's get out of here, the cosmetics store is next door." She stated, dragging the blonde lad out of the store.

The two blondes went to the cosmetic store, Luca went to look for more makeup and face paint for his next performance while Krahe was looking for hair products. She needs to bleach her hair since her roots are starting to show again. Her platinum blonde hair would not go well with her dirty blonde roots. She would also get more hair treatment products, considering how much her hair had suffered and will suffer some more from her monthly bleaching.

* * *

Sei had entered the cosmetics store. The captain wanted to go climb the buildings to take some (more) pictures so they've decided to split up and meet up at the town square at 4 o'clock, half an hour from now.

He needs to stock up his hair dye.

The store here stocks up the brand he likes to use; he knows that because that's what his butler told him when he asked. His hair is actually light gray but he dyes it regularly to get the ashy silver hair he has now. He should also get some silver shampoo, since it'll help maintain the color.

"Yo!" a familiar voice called him.

The young man turned his back to the source of the voice, the blonde girl wearing a black mask covering her eyes is in front of him now. "Hey, what brings you here, Crow?" he responded.

"Looking for bleach, can't seem to find the stuff I usually use though…"

"You're a bottled blonde?" he shrugged.

The masked girl let out a small laugh; she forgot that the newbie doesn't know. "My hair's naturally blonde, dirty blonde, actually." She said, "I bleach to get a lighter shade."

Sei, in fact, was not very surprised. He had suspected her to have at least dyed her hair, since most of her hair products in the ship's bath are for treating colored hair. He would sometimes use it for himself, but she doesn't know.

"Since you're naturally blonde, you shouldn't use bleach, it'll damage your hair too much." The man said. He turned to one of the shelves, looking at the hair dyes for his favorite brand. He scanned it until he found it at the bottom row, picking up the dye with the platinum blonde shade.

"You should use this instead; a little pricier but it'll won't damage your hair." He advised, handing the package to the girl beside him.

"Oh, I know that brand, it's the one my sister regularly uses." She stated, "Never really tried that one since its not available back where I'm from though.

"How so, then how come your sister could get it then?" he asked. Krahe's sister is a pirate, a pirate from a Yonko's crew. Unless she's in Sabaody or that city full of the world's filth (his nickname for World Nobles), there's no other place in the Grand Line where she could find that brand.

"This brand is widely available in South Blue, since that's where it's manufactured. My sister lives there with my brother." She answered, "Though my mother also lives there but she's only there only like, one sixteenth of the time."

"Didn't you say your sister's a pirate in Red Hair's crew?" he asked again, surprised by her answer.

"Hm? Oh, that's my _oldest_ sister, she doesn't dye her hair." The blonde replied casually, "I'm taking about my other sister."

"Other sister?" he didn't really expect here to have any other siblings. Well, he doesn't really know _anything_ about her, to be honest, he doesn't know anything about the other guys as well. Considering they had only met for like, one week? Two weeks? He's not sure, all he knows that he knows nothing about his crew member's pasts and they don't know about his either.

"I'm the youngest out of five siblings of three sisters and two brothers." She stated, "My eldest sister is in Shanks crew. Me, my other sister and my second older brother are actually triplets, while my eldest brother…" the girl's mood instantly changed, showing hesitation, "It's a long story really, I'll tell you after dinner."

* * *

The silver haired man, while still unsatisfied with her answer, decided to not push the subject further. He understood why she doesn't want to continue, things like these shouldn't be talked about in public places.

"Alright, so where's Luca and Reimi?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Looking at makeup, though I'm guessing he'd be done by now." She replied, "Where's Ace?"

"Taking pictures, I'm going to meet up with him later at the square and again, where's Reimi?" he asked.

"She went back to the ship to put the supplies we got there." She shrugged, "But since its Reimi here, I'm guessing she's just using it as an excuse to go to the bar without me and Luca."

"Why so?" he wondered, the question slipping out of his mouth. He knows that while Luca and Krahe are underage, can pass off as 17 year olds or older with Luca's makeup skills. They would usually go to bars together as well, so it's very odd of her to go there alone.

The blonde let out a small laugh, "Honestly, don't tell me you're not suspicious with the fact that we hadn't had any run-ins with the authorities."

"I am." He responded.

"You know why?"

He was taken aback by her question; it's obvious that she already knows the answer. "At first, I thought it's because of today's paper, the marines wouldn't want to risk the damage the town would have." _Though that wouldn't stop the bounty hunters_, "But the marines here are known to not let any pirates leave, and yet…"

"Hm…?"

"If I'm right, this town has the mafia that's run by the Cannibal stationed." He stated.

"Yup, pirates would pay them to threaten the marines so they won't have any problems." The blonde added.

"Yeah, I've heard." Sei replied, "They've been following us, as if they're scaring the marines away from us." The silver haired man was starting at the shop's window, a man is standing outside of the shop and he had seen him when he and Ace were at the weapon shop as well. Said man was talking to another man who was dressed similarly as him.

Krahe was also staring at them, the other man had been stalking them back at the fish market, watching them during Luca's scam and even when they were at the clothing store.

"But I don't know _why_." He said.

The blonde girl was pleased by the older man's answer, he lives up to his reputation.

"You know what Reimi was before becoming a pirate?" She asked.

Again, he got caught in surprised by the girl's answer, she's testing him, and he knows it. "She was a mercenary who only works under contract." Of course he knows, he remembered the slavers trying to bargain with her when they've first met. And it's not like he'd never heard of her, he did his research when he was still an outlaw. "And the Cannibal was one of her clients."

"Correct." She stated, becoming more pleased by his answer.

"That doesn't explain why they're guarding us though." If anything, that would've given them a reason to hunt them down. He knows that the last client she had was the Cannibal's rival, even if she'd betrayed him, he'd imagine that they didn't end their contract peacefully.

"Not really surprised there, but I'm impressed that you've managed to figure it out this far." And she's being honest, it's obvious he's no normal outlaw, she had heard of the rumors about him back when she was still making weapons.

"Glad that I've impressed you." Now he's curious, she has to, or was part of the underworld if she'd already figured it out.

"And here's a little bit of info, Reimi's contracts only last for three months, never more." She informed, "But she'd worked for Barto for nearly three years, see something odd?"

"So that means she joined the Cannibal's group." He guessed, "But then she left? That doesn't explain anything Crow…"

"Well…" She's not so sure if she would say it or not, before concluding that she should, "Reimi was actually his girl."

Surprised couldn't describe the look on Sei's face, he was shocked; it is as if lightning had stricken him. He'd known that Reimi's love life had included a lot of men, but he did not expect the Cannibal to be one of those men. And if that's why her contract lasted so long, he did not expect her to have a long relationship with the mafia kingpin.

* * *

She had pitied him a little, he looked like a child who had lost his innocence. "They broke up on mutual terms" she replied, "I'm guessing they're still close friends since I've seen her asked him to pull her some favors back before we were pirates."

"So you're saying she asked him to keep the marines and bounty hunters away from us?" he asked, still a little shocked.

"No, she loves getting into trouble too much to ask that," Krahe stated, "He's keeping them away from us exactly because of that."

"So she's meeting up with him to confront him." he concluded. That explains it though, although he suspects that both sides still has lingering feelings for each other. And he just wants to forget that he even thought of that, or that they've discussed their shipwright's love life just now. He feels like a gossiping teenage girl now.

"I guess, it's gonna end with them going on a date or at least making out." She shrugged.

Oh, now he had to get _that_ image out of his head. Never mind not looking like her age, she doesn't act like it too. "Thank you for giving me nightmares tonight." He said to her, "I guess we've spent too much time on gossiping, since we've still haven't paid for the hair dyes."

"Did you just say we were _gossiping_?" she teased.

_Shit,_ well now the first mate's blushing in embarrassment, "I have to meet up with Ace in like ten minutes; I'll pay for your dye so I'll see you back in the ship."

He practically ran to the cashier before quickly paying for the dyes and left the store. Krahe was just one step away from laughing and rolling herself on the floor. She hadn't expected him to be embarrassed that easily. _So you're not as calm and collected as you make yourself look._ She stopped herself from getting into her laughing fits and took two bottles of silver shampoo from the shelf. She walked to the cashier and paid for them, she felt a little bad since Luca is already outside of the store, waiting for her.

* * *

Ace was taking pictures of _pigeons_, and was quite focused on it too. He didn't realize the first mate was standing right next to him until he whacked him on the head with his staff. The silver haired man is still not getting used to the fact that his captain has taken a strong interest in something that he'd expect someone more…intelligent looking (or nerdy, well Ace is kind of a geek at times) to have.

"Do you have to do that? You're as bad as Krahe." The brunette replied, rubbing the back of his head. He's pretty sure that the only sane people on his ship are himself and Reimi. Wait, thinking back Reimi isn't that sane. He himself isn't exactly _normal_ but at least he's sane…right?

Ace has concluded that his crew is full of insane people, including himself.

"Tch, I still have a long way to go if I want to be as bad as her." The first mate shrugged, "Or do you think that being hit with a staff is as bad as waking up being hanged upside down, on the edge of the ship."

Ace shivered, the memory coming back to him. He had accidentally finished the blonde girl's parfait once, since it was a hot day and he's hungry and the parfait was right in front of him. Needless to say Krahe was not amused at all, even though the young captain had apologized and she did say she forgives him, it did not stop her from humiliating the brunette when she found him sleeping at the deck.

Ace from then decided not to touch Krahe's desserts.

"You're evil, you know." He said back.

"I've been called worse." Sei replied.

"Like what? 'Vigilante' is better than 'Fire Fist'; at least you match the title." Ace said, he liked his epithet, he just thinks that he doesn't live up to it. Since well…when you hear someone known as Fire Fist you would have expected them to win an arm wrestling match against a girl…_even if said girl is a former contract killer_.

* * *

"I'm called a noble."

Ace sighed. Sei hates nobles, Ace hates them too, they took his brother away from him and there's no way he would forgive them. Ace also knows that Sei is a noble, even though saying that would probably make him whack you with his giant stick until your bones break. But he knows that not all nobles are stuck up assholes, Sei's a good guy, just like his brother.

"Then I guess you'll have to prove them wrong." The captain replied.

Sei looked into the eyes of his captain. He was caught off guarded by his words. "Huh?"

"If you don't want them to call you that, be the complete opposite of it." the captain boasted, "Be all nice and approachable, give free candy to little kids, donate the stuff you don't need, become a pirate-wait you're already one and of course, hang out with outcasts like us and don't give a fuck. Sooner or later those marines won't be calling you that because there's no way nobles can be like that." _With a few exceptions._

Sei smiled, "Well guess I'll start with being a pirate and trying to survive living with you freaks." He appreciates his captain's words and he's also surprised by them. Ace is more than he seems.

"Hey, say that to the others! I'm trying to survive dealing with them myself." Ace joked, "Glad I got you out from your emo moment."

"I am _not_ emo." The silver haired man grunted.

"Sei, buddy, _everyone_ knows you angst in your room every day, no need to hide it."

Ace was then whacked again with the staff, not like he didn't saw that coming. "I. Do. Not. Angst."

"Okay, okay, you don't! Just, no more whacking, that thing hurts." Ace said while placing his hands in front of him in a defensive position, and this is why he doesn't consider Sei sane, he's a _sadist._

"Why'd you think I got this thing." He snarled.

"Again, you're evil." The captain pouted, "Let's go back to the ship, I saw the blonde duo heading back."

"Translation: nearly time for dinner."

The captain was already walking back to the ship, before turning back to reply, "Of course."

The first mate followed him, while letting out a little laugh.

_These guys just keep on surprising me._

* * *

A/N: This chapter is pretty much Reimi and Sei-centric with some exposure of Krahe's personality, Luca's not really focused on this chapter but he'll play a bigger role in the next chapter with Krahe.

And Ace is a little OOC as well since I'm writing him back when he was a newbie and still a teenager, so he's not as mature as he was in the manga/anime.

Please R&R and criticism is very much welcomed as long as it's constructive!


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